HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2410-36451.Approval of the Minutes of the Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting Held on
September 4, 2024
Item No. 1. Page 1 of 1
Utilities Advisory Commission
Staff Report
From: Alan Kurotori, Utilities Chief Operating Officer
Lead Department: Utilities
Meeting Date: November 6, 2024
Report #: 2410-3645
TITLE
Approval of the Minutes of the Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting Held on September 4,
2024
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the UAC consider the following motion:
Commissioner ______ moved to approve the draft minutes of the September 4, 2024 meeting
as submitted/amended.
Commissioner ______ seconded the motion.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: 09-04-2024 DRAFT UAC Minutes
AUTHOR/TITLE:
Jenelle Kamian, Program Assistant I
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 1 of 10
UTILITIES ADVISORY COMMISSION MEETING
MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 4, 2024 REGULAR MEETING
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Scharff called the meeting of the Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) to order at 6:00 p.m.
Present: Chair Scharff, Vice Chair Mauter, Commissioners Croft, Metz, and Phillips
Absent: Commissioners Gupta and Tucher
AGENDA REVIEW AND REVISIONS
None
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
None
APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES
ITEM 1: ACTION: Approval of the Minutes of the Utilities Advisory Commission Meeting Held on July 3,
2024
Chair Scharff invited comments on the July 3, 2024, UAC draft meeting Minutes.
ACTION: Vice Chair Mauter moved to approve the draft minutes of the July 3, 2024, meeting as
submitted.
Commissioner Croft seconded the motion.
The motion carried 5-0 with Chair Scharff, Vice Chair Mauter, Commissioners Croft, Metz, and Phillips
voting yes.
Commissioner Gupta and Tucher absent.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None
UTILITIES DIRECTOR REPORT
Dean Batchelor, Utilities Director, delivered the Director's Report.
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 2 of 10
Gas Price Spike Mitigation: On August 19, Council approved a plan to apply a gas price mitigation adder
of 5.5 cents per therm for a period of 3 years generating about $4.5M in revenues. The funds will be used
to offset the impact of a gas market price spike above the maximum Gas Commodity Charge of $4 per
them. The policy will go into effect November 1.
Beware of Scams: We are continually on the lookout for potential utility scams and warn the public to be
wary of anyone pretending to fraudulently represent the City of Palo Alto Utilities (CPAU). Recently a
customer alerted us to a scam so CPAU is reminding community members to beware and be safe.
Scammers may advertise a false CPAU phone number online, try to solicit personal information, and/or
demand utility payments. We encourage customers to contact Utilities Customer Service Call at
UtilitiesCustomerService@cityofpaloalto.org or (650) 329-2161 with any questions about their account.
811 Day: August 11 was 8/11, Call Before You Dig Day, which is a helpful reminder to always call 811
before any digging or excavation work to avoid hitting underground utilities and a potentially dangerous
situation. This month, CPAU is mailing gas safety awareness brochures to all postal patrons within the zip
codes of Palo Alto, as well as to emergency responders, locators, excavators, contractors, public officials,
and non-customers living near a gas pipeline. CPAU provides gas safety outreach to customers throughout
the year. Visit cityofpaloalto.org/safeutility for more tips on gas and other utilities safety.
GOAL Surveys: CPAU will soon begin surveying residents about gas safety through the Gas Overall
Awareness Level (GOAL) survey. This survey is one of the methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of
our outreach activities as mandated by the Federal Department of Transportation through our Public
Awareness Plan. The survey of residential customers is expected to begin sometime within the next few
weeks. Customers will receive an automated phone call recording with questions as well as option to
complete the survey online.
HPWH Program Update: As of August 29, 2024, 323 HPWHs have been installed through the Full Service
HPWH program, with 12 of these installed at no cost to income-qualified households through the
Residential Energy Assistance Program (REAP). Another 82 HPWH rebates have been approved since
January 1, 2023. Separately, CPAU is planning to launch a new Emergency Water Heater Replacement
program in September to support the swift replacement of failed gas water heaters with heat pumps.
CPAU is partnering with Larratt Brothers to meet the program goal of restoring hot water within 48 hours.
In cases where it might take longer than 48 hours to install a heat pump water heater, the contractor will
provide a loaner gas water heater as a temporary solution.
SunShares Program Update: For the ninth consecutive year, CPAU is partnering with Business Council on
Climate Change (BC3) to promote the Bay Area SunShares Program. CPAU customers will receive
discounted prices to install residential solar and battery storage systems from two prescreened solar
contractors, SolarUnion and Solar Technologies. Program enrollment begins on September 1 and will close
on November 15.
Business and Key Account Customer Satisfaction Surveys: As a member of the California Municipal
Utilities Association (CMUA), CPAU is actively participating in customer satisfaction surveys for small and
medium businesses, as well as key account customers. Earlier this year, CMUA’s contractor, GreatBlue
Research, conducted a statewide survey covering both municipal and investor-owned utility customers.
This survey aims to benchmark and analyze customer satisfaction trends across the state.
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 3 of 10
Following the statewide survey, we have initiated an “oversample” survey specifically targeting Palo Alto
business customers. This additional survey will help us gain deeper insights into areas of particular interest
in Palo Alto while retaining similar questions to those used in the statewide survey for effective
comparison.
Commercial Webinar: On July 31, CPAU hosted its second free commercial webinar, which had 25 people
in attendance. The presenter, Steve Brennan of CLEAResult, informed attendees about maximizing the
efficiency and performance of HVAC systems, with a special focus on heat pumps. Customers learned
about energy-saving strategies, and advancements in heat pump technology. Survey results from the
webinar proved this topic was well received and customers would like to see more educational webinars
on this topic in the future.
Electric Vehicle Programs: The Peninsula Conservation Center (PCC), one of the first commercial buildings
to go all-electric in Palo Alto, has recently completed the installation of 6 EV charging stations; these are
now available to both staff and visitors for use. In addition, the condominium complex at 101 Alma has
completed the installation of 97 chargers (one for each tenant parking space) and the apartment complex
at 345 Sheridan has completed the installation of 10 chargers. Together, these projects represent a total
of 184 more multifamily units that now have access to onsite charging. Staff is working with these
properties to bring EV workshops and mini EV expos to their sites to educate and engage residents about
the benefits of switching to an EV.
Events and Workshops: Details and registration at cityofpaloalto.org/workshops – UPS Upcoming events
NEW BUSINESS
ITEM 2: DISCUSSION: City of Palo Alto’s Electrical Connection to California Transmission Grid
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 4 of 10
will trigger the NERC Reliability Upgrade. If the second transmission corridor is approved by California
ISO, it would be roughly 5 years to be built by PG&E and the cost would be mostly covered by all PG&E
and ISO ratepayers as a required transmission upgrade.
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 5 of 10
Commissioner Metz questioned the main barrier to making progress on this.
ACTION: None
ITEM 3: DISCUSSION: Overview of Council-Adopted “One Margin” Energy Reach Code
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 6 of 10
Jonathan Abendschein, Assistant Director of Climate Action, stated the Energy Reach Codes adopted by
the Council in June are currently under review by the CEC. The ordinances amended two sections of the
Municipal Code: 16.14 is the Energy Code and 16.17 is the Green Building Code. These ordinances adopt
local amendments to the State's codes. When the ordinances go into effect, they will amend the energy
code in a way that will encourage electrification consistent with the standards laid out by the Ninth Circuit
Court. They would amend the Green Building Code to remove the all-electric requirements and to align
with some updates to the State's Green Building Code that took effect in July. The State added a standard
to its statewide building codes called Hourly Source Energy, which essentially serves as a proxy for
greenhouse gas emissions when modeling the energy use for new construction or major renovations. It is
easier for buildings to meet the Hourly Source Energy standards when they use electricity rather than gas.
The higher cost of gas heating means it is likely that new homes will install heat pumps for their space and
water heating. The Hourly Source Energy requirement does not apply to gas stoves, dryers, or other
equipment aside from space and water heating.
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 7 of 10
Vice Chair Mauter encouraged making information about the benefits of full electrification, including the
elimination of indoor air pollutants associated with indoor gas stoves, available to Palo Alto citizens during
the outreach process. She asked what other communities have done from an incentive perspective to
encourage electrification.
ACTION: None
ITEM 4: DISCUSSION: Implementing Reliability and Resiliency Strategic Plan – Review of Consulting Scope
of Work to Scope Projects to Enhance Resiliency
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 8 of 10
Mr. Abendschein explained that this analysis was trying to establish the cost-benefit, which was already
known to be positive for energy efficiency. He noted demand-side management was under grid
interactive appliances but could be clearer. It was asking the consultant to look at automated demand-
side management, not just appliances. As far as microgrids, he stated the PG&E programs are heavily
focused on communities that are at risk of power shutoffs. He felt a lot would be learned from the
analyses at the airport about neighborhood-scale microgrids in Palo Alto. He noted Commissioner
Gupta had submitted questions, which would be responded to by email separately.
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 9 of 10
Dean Batchelor, Director of Utilities, agreed on working with OES but did not think this study would go
into that great of detail. The study around the airport will give some ideas in the 2- to 3-day window of
outages.
Utilities Advisory Commission Minutes Approved on: Page 10 of
10
Mr. Abendschein added that microgrids are the only technology on the list that are likely to reduce
outages at a neighborhood scale, but added avoiding outages was not the primary goal of the consultant
analysis. One of the major goals of the analysis was to figure out how flexible technologies and efficient
strategies could reduce energy supply costs, the amount of investment needed in the distribution
system for electrification, and how to optimize use of the existing capacity of the distribution system.
Resiliency is an additional value stream for some of these technologies that can affect the cost-benefit
analysis. A technology might be found to improve the benefit enough that, in combination with the
energy supply and the distribution system benefits, it becomes worthwhile to promote.
ACTION: None
FUTURE TOPICS FOR UPCOMING MEETINGS ON OCTOBER 9, 2024 AND REVIEW OF THE 12 MONTH
ROLLING CALENDAR
COMMISSIONER COMMENTS and REPORTS from MEETINGS/EVENTS
ADJOURNMENT